Representative Experience

  • Represented Media General Inc. in its successful $4.6 billion merger with Nexstar Broadcasting Group following its $2.6 billion acquisition of LIN Media.
  • Represented Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., through its newly formed indirect wholly owned subsidiary, Diamond Sports Group, LLC, as finance, securities and FCC regulatory counsel in its $10.6 billion acquisition from The Walt Disney Company of its interests in 21 Regional Sports Networks and Fox College Sports, which were acquired by Disney in its acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc.
  • Represented Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. in a Joint Petition for Declaratory Ruling that successfully obtained the first FCC approval for a foreign entity to prospectively hold more than 25 percent of the shares of a U.S. television broadcast company.

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  • RSN Financing:
    • Represented Sinclair in connection with its indirect subsidiary, Diamond Sports Group, LLC, in obtaining senior secured credit facilities in the aggregate principal amount of $3.95 billion, comprising a $3.3 billion term loan facility and a $650 million revolving credit facility.
    • Represented Sinclair in connection with its indirect subsidiaries, Diamond Sports Group, LLC and Diamond Sports Finance Company, in Rule 144A/Reg S offerings of $3.05 billion and $1.825 billion aggregate principal amount of senior notes.
  • Represented GTCR as regulatory counsel in the sale of its portfolio company GreatCall, a leading provider of communications, connected health technology and emergency response services, to Best Buy Co., Inc. for approximately $800 million.
  • Represented Sinclair in connection with its direct wholly owned subsidiary Sinclair Television Group, Inc. obtaining senior secured credit facilities consisting of a $700 million incremental term loan facility on the same terms as the $600 million incremental term loan facility borrowed on August 13, 2019, and a $650 million revolving credit facility.
  • Represented Sinclair as it teamed with the New York Yankees’ parent company, Amazon.com, and private investment firms to acquire the YES Network in a deal with an enterprise value of $3.47 billion.
  • Represented the Voice on the Net Coalition, the leading trade association of the internet communications industry.
  • Launched Standard Media Group LLC, a broadcast station acquisition vehicle designed to leverage the burgeoning consolidation in the TV industry to grow a major new entrant among the largest TV broadcast group owners. Pillsbury handled all aspects, including financing, of the company’s $83 million acquisition of the Citadel TV stations in 2019, and its $60 million acquisition of the Waypoint TV and radio stations.
  • Represented NASBA, the umbrella organization of all 50 state broadcasters’ associations, as well as individual state broadcasters associations in a variety of policy and rulemaking proceedings before Congress, the FCC and other federal agencies.
  • Represented private equity player Standard General in its successful negotiations with Emmis Communications to create a new jointly owned and publicly traded entity, Mediaco Holding, which acquired Emmis’s top-rated radio stations in New York, with Standard General acquiring the controlling interest in Mediaco.
  • Represented Sinclair Television Group in numerous broadcast station acquisitions, including those of station groups Allbritton, Barrington, Bonten, Fisher and Titan.
  • Represented the National Association of Broadcasters in rulemaking matters before the FCC.
  • Represented Shield Media in litigation with DISH over retransmission consent agreements.
  • Represented Live Sports Radio in obtaining temporary and experimental authorizations to provide live broadcast service at sporting events, conventions and other public venues.
  • Represented television and radio broadcasters before the FCC in connection with reconstruction of facilities after Hurricane Maria and in the spectrum repack of TV stations following the FCC’s Broadcast Incentive Auction.
  • Represented Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises in the sale of its interests in five radio stations in the Rapid City market to Riverfront Broadcasting for $3.6 million.
  • Handled all aspects of the $25 million sale to Scripps Broadcasting Holdings LLC of the first digital television station in the U.S., WHDT-DT, in the West Palm Beach, Florida market.
  • Handled various noncommercial station acquisitions, including the University of Missouri’s acquisitions of noncommercial radio stations KWJC (FM), Liberty, Missouri from William Jewell College and WQUB (FM), Quincy, Illinois from Quincy University.
  • Represented television and radio broadcasters before the FCC in connection with both the reconstruction of facilities after Hurricane Maria and the post-auction spectrum repack nationwide.

Practice Area Highlights

  • Recognized by Chambers USA for Telecom, Broadcast & Satellite (2021 – 2023) and Media & Entertainment: Regulatory (2022 – 2023) in Washington, DC.
  • Recognized nationally by The Legal 500 U.S. for Telecoms and Broadcast: Regulatory (2008 – 2023).
  • Recognized by U.S. News/Best Lawyers for Communications Law.